I am biased because I haven’t been to many countries, but
just from reading and what I’ve learned, I know I live in the greatest country
on this earth, even though it’s both blessed and cursed.
As President Obama said, “It’s (the United States) not a
perfect union,” but we are blessed to have freedoms that many countries dream about.
Still, this dynamic nation has issues that dig deep into the
fabric of its creation.
We are a country born of racism and violence. Without recapping history, we learned in grade
school that the early settlers claimed this land, killed Indians and enslaved
Africans.
We’ve come a long way in 300 – 400 years.
Having an African American President says a lot about how far
we’ve come and how minds are changing.
I understand that change takes time, but when it’s your race
or your group being targeted, sometimes change can’t come soon enough.
With the evolution of equality moving at a snail’s pace, I’m
glad that I was born when I was.
“I know that I couldn’t live in the 50’s and 60’s,” I told
my son, as we were watching the Jackie Robinson movie. “I would have been hung or lynched because
there’s no way that I could maintain my decorum being treated like that.”
“You don’t know what you would have done,” my
thirteen-year-old replied, “because your mindset would have been
different. You’re free. Black people back then were free but they
weren’t free.”
‘Back then’ is my mother’s generation.
She grew up in a time where there were white-only bathrooms,
when black people sat in the back of the bus, when there were segregated schools
and hand-me-down books from white schools.
She lived in a time period where it was normal to hear a white person
call a black person colored or a nigger.
My father was a second generation American. He was a civil rights leader and campaigned
for the recognition of Martin Luther King’s birthday. He demanded civil rights for all people, and
he even preached at a church on occasion.
I grew up in a racially-mixed neighborhood. My brother and I were the only black kids on
the block. My friends from back in the
day were white, black, Spanish, Asian… the list goes on, and they’re still my
friends today.
I didn’t experience racism until I was an adult, and I’m
seeing racism more so now because people feel they have the right to say and do
whatever they want.
“Americans have too much freedom, and they are very cruel,”
I’ve heard immigrants and Naturalized American citizens say.
I don’t agree that we have too much freedom, but I do
believe that cruel behavior stems from greed, hatred, jealousy, ignorance and
poverty.
And I do believe that there are some people that abuse and
hide behind the law.
There are people who do feel there are justifiable reasons
to act in a rebellious manner.
Yes, “there’s a reason to kick an old man down a flight of steps,
but you just don’t do it!” comedian, Chris Rock said so eloquently.
I know how hard it is to walk away when someone attacks the
core of your being, whatever that might be, but sometimes walking away and
thinking about the situation will give you a different perspective.
Maybe we all need to take an anger management class. J
With so many different races and religions and practices and
beliefs, it will not be easy to act as one people, and it takes time and
patience to understand and/or accept each other’s differences.
We are not a nation of one race and one religion and one
culture.
We are a nation of everyone, and no one is going anywhere,
so it’s best to work together and find solutions to create peace and not
instill unjust practices that will further ignite hostility and chaos.
America is both blessed and cursed to have such
diversity. That’s what makes us such a phenomenal
country.
If we all try just a little bit more, someday we’ll start
behaving like a United Nation.
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